An Adelaide foster carer who preyed on vulnerable girls in his care for years has been jailed, with victims saying authorities failed to act when the first alarm was raised more than a decade ago.
Ricky Bennett, once trusted to protect children, is now behind bars after a string of young survivors united to expose him as a serial predator.
“He deserves to rot in there,” one victim told 7NEWS.
The first complaint was made in 2013, when a young girl reported Bennett to authorities. She told 7NEWS she believed speaking up was the right thing to do but instead felt dismissed and unsupported.
“I was failed by the very institution put in place to protect me and help me,” she said.
She felt unheard and eventually went on to drop the charges. Bennett continued offending for another seven years.
“He worked in my school and everyone thought he was just amazing, but he’s not,” she said.
Ricky Bennett will spend at least 19 years behind bars.
Another victim, who was very young at the time, says she wishes she had been removed from his care after revealing she once slept on the roof to escape him.
“All of this could have been stopped because one girl spoke up and nobody believed her,” she said.
“I’m devastated by it because if the police and not only that the Department of Child Protection did the right thing back then these girls would have a better life and wouldn’t have been failed the same way that I was,” a victim said.
Judge Heath Barklay sentenced Bennett to 24 years, with a non-parole period of 19 years and two months, describing him as “a skilful, dangerous and determined sexual predator”.
“It is an understatement to say that your offending was serious… it was persistent and repugnant,” he said.
“It was relentless… you took advantage of your power imbalance in relation to the children.”
Bennett kept his head down during Thursday’s hearing, but throughout the trial he was seen smirking and staring at victims as they told the court how he destroyed their lives.
Several survivors said that while Bennett was the abuser, the system also failed to protect them.
“It’s a whole system that needs to stop failing the kids,” they said.
The 24-year sentence was backdated to August 27, 2021.
The Department for Child Protection told 7NEWS it is supporting the victims.
